Why I Will Never Buy Kiddieland Toys Again

I don’t have that much experience in the world in parenting yet — after all, David isn’t even 14 months old yet — but I’d like to think based on what I do a lot during my day job that I understand a little about customer service. With babies, toys break. The Tiny Love mobile that broke after 5 months was replaced after paying a minor fee to them directly since I did not have proof of purchase. The Baby Einstein light-up musical star that came with his play mat stopped playing music and was replaced almost immediately, no questions asked.

When you have a baby, you get lots of gifts. David did. Who can blame him? And who can blame his family — after all, he’s the first grandchild on two sides of the family, the first nephew on all sides of the family — this is a huge deal.

And when he celebrated his 1 year old birthday, people came from all over to join in. His birthday party had his grandparents from Florida and Pennsylvania, his aunts and uncles and cousins from New Jersey — and they all met in New York.

One of his presents was this Kiddieland Activity Plane, which as you can tell, is not the cheapest toy. David loves this plane — he loves running his fingers against the little propeller that even lights up. He used it so much that the batteries died about a month later, and that’s where the trouble started.

Pictured below is Exhibit A. It’s important at this point to mention that Kiddieland is based in Hong Kong without any US representation, and as a result, it looks like they don’t have American batteries to test with. The left battery (Panacell) shows contacts that are a lot higher than the right hand battery (Kirkland), which is a US-battery. A note of reference: my Duracell batteries, which are actually in the device at the present, are identical to the Kirkland batteries.

The Activity Plane takes three AA batteries. When I first replaced the batteries with brand new Duracell batteries, I noticed that the device would not power on. After a short while, I understood why. The size of the batteries made a world of difference. Unless the battery contact was as long as the Panacell battery, it wasn’t going to work since the spring wasn’t extending far enough and the contact was not touching the metal plate that would cause power to run through the device. Stretching the spring didn’t do a thing. Right now, I have two perfectly-working Duracell batteries and one dead Panacell battery in the Activity Plane. Not a really ideal setup, but what can I do? David loves this toy, and as his mother, I’ll bend over backwards for him to make sure he has a working toy.

The only support for Kiddieland comes in the form of an email address that is engraved on the device. I reached out to them and was told that they could not help me at all unless there is firm proof of purchase. I understand the requirements but I also understand that the value of a customer is more important than sticking to your guns, especially when it relates to a product that was purchased as a gift.

With a purchase that was made over a month ago, why should the gift giver have the receipt? It seems silly. Is this irrational?

Call me a whiner, call me whatever you want. But I’ve never worked with a company that doesn’t acknowledge that a gift is a gift is a gift. Unless you’ve bought clothing, you won’t have proof of purchase for a gift. I’ve never seen it.

I’m not sure if this is a flaw because the company is Hong Kong based, but I assume that there are a few things wrong with this setup:

• They’re overseas. Shipping to the US isn’t something they will do lightly.
• There’s no trust in the customer. Which means the customer won’t buy their products again.

I don’t know about you but I like to err on the side of “the benefit of the doubt.” If the customer describes the product flaw with such detail, how could you not trust that they are an owner of the product? I had emailed them a month prior asking for an instruction manual (the product doesn’t come with one). I’m not coming here to exploit these toy manufacturers.

Still, though, I’d like to think that Kiddieland would make accommodations to keep me as a loyal customer. They’ve had their chance. After a week of delays and runarounds, I think I’ve made the decision not to support their products again.

Do you have any similar stories to share? Or do the companies you work with value your support? Please share your opinions — any at all about my approach and theirs — in the comments.